


Don't Lie (Bright Eyes)

by beware_of_fangirling



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Established Relationship, Fluff, Getting Back Together, Jealous Adam, M/M, Post-Break Up, Post-The Raven King, Song fic, The Barns (Raven Cycle)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-01
Updated: 2017-11-01
Packaged: 2019-01-27 17:34:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12587060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beware_of_fangirling/pseuds/beware_of_fangirling
Summary: "Don't lie, bright eyesIt'll always be you and meSo why are we dreaming alone?"- Against the CurrentAdam finds himself back in Henrietta for the first time since breaking up with Ronan. Time is a circle.





	Don't Lie (Bright Eyes)

**Author's Note:**

> My first fic in the Raven Cycle fandom. Title and inspiration from "Dreaming Alone" by Against the Current. Let me know what you think!

The second Adam crossed the town lines into Henrietta, he felt a tug in his heart. He wasn’t entiely sure what it was. The ley line, clicking back into place with his soul. A feeling of nostalgia for the town he had worked so hard to get out of his whole life. The bone-deep knowledge that, as much as he tried to ignore it, every mile that passed under the wheels of his Mercedes brought him closer and closer to one certain blue eyed, shaved head, aggressively Irish boy.

(When he had first showed Ronan his new car, bought with money he never thought he would make from a job he never thought he would get, the sharp edged boy laughed, true and bright, at the joking slight. Adam hadn’t heard that sort of laugh out of him in months. He wasn’t sure if he ever would again.)

It was Gansey’s twenty first birthday, and his court of honor had been summoned back to the castle for a singular weekend. It would be the first time Adam saw Henrietta in almost eight months. The last he had seen of it had been blurry behind fresh tears and a broken heart as he stormed out of the Barns and sped away. 

He hadn’t wanted to come back. Not even a little bit. Sure, he would miss spending the day with his friends, and the feeling of missing out would be a sharp pain in his side all day, but that pain would have been nothing compared to seeing Ronan again. Not after the last time.

(Sometimes, on the nights he was really feeling sorry for himself, he could still feel the door of the Barns slamming shut behind him, hear Opal’s hearbreaking cries for him not to leave, see Ronan’s eyes reflecting the same pleas under masks of anger and loathing. He tried not ot have too many of those nights.)

But Gansey had asked him to come, and it might not have been waking magical sleeping elk in an underground cave on a search for his true love and eventual kind-of-killer’s mother, but he could still be incredibly persuasive when he wanted to be. So Adam had packed a bag, asked for the weekend off, and driven back down to Henrietta from Boston. He dialed his phone through Bluetooth as he drove into Henrietta, letting the ringing fill the car and drown out his thoughts.

“Hello?” Blue’s voice was garbled by the speakers, but cheerful nonetheless. 

“Hey, it’s Adam. I just got into Henrietta.” It hadn’t been long since he had spoken to her. He had stayed in touch with everyone after the break-up, because it was hard to not stay in touch with people you had fought a demon with, even if you had broken one of their heart’s. “Do you want me to pick up anything on my way to Monmouth?”

“Oh, uh-” He could hear Blue awkwardly whisper things to someone else before the background noise got quieter. He guessed he was the last to arrive and she had just excused herself from everyone else. “We’re actually not at Monmouth.”

“Gansey didn’t rent out a bar did he?” He had wanted to, but Adam thought Blue had talked him out of it.

“No, he didn’t, thank god. We just... We sort of thought the Barns would be better. More room, places for everyone to sleep if they stay over. No one has to drive after, you know? I’m sorry. I really should have run it by you first.” A pause. “Adam?”

He found his voice, finally, somewhere at the bottom of his stomach.” It’s fine. I’ll be there in an hour or so.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure. See you soon.” He hung up.

As he travelled the familiar path down to Singer Falls, Adam tried to convince himself that it would all be alright. He could do this. He could go and celebrate Gansey’s birthday with him, and have a good time with all of his friends, and not think about anything that had happened eight months ago. Or before, for that matter.

(Maybe he could just make it through the night without thinking about anything at all.)

It was dark by the time he pulled up the long drive in Singer Falls. He carefully counted the number of cars already in the drive. Cheng’s Fisker. The Pig. And of course, the black BMW. No matter how far he was from this town, a sleek black car speeding down the streets sent his heart racing along with it. He didn’t see any other cars, but that didn’t matter much. He could have come with Ronan. He could have been staying the weekend. Hell, he could already have moved in.

(It was last fall when Adam learned of the tall, lean brunette who had slotted into his empty place. He called Gansey right after dinnertime, and instantly recognized the sounds of Nino’s bustle in the background. He could almost picture everyone around the table, a hole where he would have normally been sitting.

“Adam.” Gansey sounded unusually solemn, though he normally greeted him with a bright cheer. Adam heard the background noises quiet and then disappear as Gansey stepped outside.

“Gansey,” he greeted with equal enthusiasm.

“Sorry, I just had to step outside.”

“Are you at Nino’s? I would have liked to say hello to Blue and Henry-”

“Ronan was there.”

“-And Ronan even,” Adam finished lamely. 

Silence dragged for a bit, as Adam waited for Gansey to say whatever it was that was on his mind. He could picture all of the options.  _ He hasn’t been doing well _ or  _ I think it would have been nice for you to say hi  _ or  _ You made a mistake  _ or even  _ I warned you to be careful with him. _ Every single option.

“He brought his boyfriend to meet us tonight.”

Every single option except that one, that is.)

He hung up quickly after that, with little fanfare, but Gansey hadn’t brought up the subject any other time. Adam managed to find the new boyfriend,  _ Michael _ , on Instagram through an intensive stalking session he wasn’t quite proud of. The other boy was tall, tanned, elegant. He had a dog, and a basketball team, apparently. And right there, the most recent photo, was Ronan Niall Lynch in the driver’s seat of the BMW, midway through a laugh as he stared out the front windshield, one hand on the wheel and the other hidden under the frame, but reaching towards the passenger side.

( _ my boy <3 _ )

Adam swore himself off ever looking at Michael’s profile again, but it hadn’t stopped him from wondering about the boy, nor the sick feeling in his stomach whenever he did. As he walked up the porch, he ignored the ghosts of two boys kissing up against the pillar, sitting wrapped in the same blanket on the bench swing, pointing out constellation from the steps. He tried to brace himself for whatever he faced inside.

(He should have learned already that no amount of preparation could withstand Ronan Lynch.)

Blue swung open the door as soon as he knocked, throwing her arms around him before he had time to react. “Adam!”

He hugged her back tightly. “Hey, Blue.”

Henry appeared over her shoulder, giving him a bright smile and a grand wave. “Parrish, my man.”

“Hey Henry.”

“Gansey’s in the kitchen,” Blue tugged him in the direction, as if he couldn’t outline the whole house for them down to the exact grain patterns on the hardwood floors. The Barns weren’t unchanged. New books sat on the shelves. The blanket on the couch had been replaced. There were a few new mugs in the cabinets above the dishwasher. Still, no number of years could change the unique scent and the feeling that he was home.

(It wasn’t fair, that the Barns still felt so much like home to him, but then again few things in his life had ever been fair, so he wasn’t making a fuss.)

He slid on a steel mask to face Ronan, but Gansey was alone in the kitchen, frozen with one finger in the icing of a cupcake. Blue rolled her eyes heavily at him but dismissed his crimes with a shrug. Immediately, the birthday boy brightened and pulled Adam into a hug. “Good to see you, Adam.”

“Happy birthday, Your Majesty.”

Gansey squeezed him once more, whispering, “Welcome back” before pulling away. 

Adam didn’t ask where Ronan was. He was probably upstairs. Maybe Michael was with him. Maybe he was also preparing himself to see Adam. Maybe he didn’t have too. Maybemaybemaybe-

“Parrish.”

Leave it to Ronan, stopping Adam’s heart with possibly the most familiar word to him in the English language. Adam turned, trying not to show that he was resuscitating himself. It was like looking straight into the past. Shaved head. Blank tank. Expensive ripped jeans. Hard mouth. Bright eyes. 

“Lynch.”

* * *

Dinner was uneventful. They laughed. They told stories. They raised their glass in a short toast to Noah. Adam and Ronan sat as far away from each other as they could at a table of five, like it was normal. Like there was never a time when it was unthinkable to not sit side by side. Opal was sleeping over 300 Fox Way for the night, but Ronan promised Adam he could get a chance to see her over the weekend.

(Not as if Adam had asked. Ronan just knew. Ronan knew him.)

He also didn’t ask why there were five seats, not six. 

They exchanged gifts around the coffee table in the living room. Henry gave him a stack of books the size of Opal, all about old Welsh lore, and Gansey almost started devouring them right then and there until Ronan shoved a bundle in his hands. When unwrapped, it revealed a sleeping mask of green, red, and white emblazoned with the words: “DO NOT WAKE. KING SLEEPING”. Everyone had laughed, but Adam knew it had some sort of hidden gift, likely to give Gansey a more sound sleep or vanquish nightmares.

(He knew Ronan too.)

Blue brought him a new mint plant, one which she had grown in the Fox Way garden with Maura and Calla. Adam bet Gansey’s sentimental ass was going to tear up every time he chewed a leaf. Adam himself has delicately wrapped in newspaper a soft, thick leather bound notebook, the deep chocolate of Cabeswater in the summer. Inside, right on the cover, he had glued the Page of Cups.

He tapped the newspaper wrapping still in Gansey’s hands, drawing his awed eyes from the journal. The page described strange happenings in a small town in New Jersey. “How much do you know about Spanish Mansions?”

Blue pulled a crayon and piece of paper from where- assumably- Opal had left them on the table.

“What are you doing?” Henry asked, peering over her shoulder. 

“Writing a pack list.”

Everyone laughed. Except for Gansey, who was still engrossed in the article. For just a moment, Ronan caught Adam’s eye and it felt like his laugh was just for him.

* * *

Sometime around eight, Ronan disappeared. Adam didn’t think any of the other three, stuffed and giddy on cupcakes and champagne Adam hoped Blue had chosen, noticed, until Gansey caught him looking towards the stairs. He gave him a gentle nod and an encouraging smile and Adam went upstairs.

It would make sense for Ronan to be in the master bedroom, where they had slept when Adam still lived with him, but his feet drew him towards the boy’s childhood room. Sure enough, there he was, sitting right on the edge of the bed. It was clearly unslept in for quite a while. This was just a visit.

( _ Time is a circle,  _ Persephone whispered in his mind.)

He sat down beside Ronan on the bed without a word. It was up to the other boy to bring those.

“What are you doing up here?”

“We weren’t sure where you had gone-”

“No. Parrish. What are you doing up here?”

Adam breathed in deeply. “I’m not sure,” he admitted. “I wasn’t sure where you had gone. I wasn’t sure where I had went.”

“Do you regret it?”

The breakup. A screaming match, tears stubbornly not falling from either of their eyes. The last of many fights, about many things, none of which mattered yet all of which were monumental. He was grieving since he left, but he would have been miserable if he had stayed.

“No.”

More silence, and then, “Do you regret it?”

( _ Time is a circle, _ Cabeswater whispered in his mind.)

The same question, but not asking the same answer. Adam thought about it. He thought about nights on the porch, and bowls of Easy Mac. He thought of speeding cars and frantic hands. He thought of jet black ravens and little blond girls and the resonance of Ronan’s laugh pressed against his shoulder, seeping into his skin like the ink of a tattoo.

“No.”

( _ Time is a circle, _ Glendower whispered in his mind.)

“I’m assuming Gansey told you about Michael.”

Adam swallowed past the lump in his throat. “Yeah.”

“Did he tell you we broke up?”

The lump grew. He couldn’t breathe. He was suffocating.

“No.” He didn’t want to ask. He had to know. “Why?”

( _ Time is a circle, _ Noah whispered in his mind.)

“I couldn’t explain to him why I kept waking up with toy cars in my hands.”

He could breathe again.

( _ Kiss this idiot, _ Noah whispered in his mind.)

Noah always gave great advice.

 


End file.
